OREGON CITY, Ore.– The Clackamas Community College wrestling team went three-for-four against the California teams involved in the California Challenge Dual Saturday.

The lone dual loss came way of Sacramento City College 21-17 when a difficult call was made against the Cougars.

“In that final match against Sacramento City College we led in the 165 pound match until a very difficult call went against us,” said CCC Head Coach Josh Rhoden.

“I don’t want to use excuses so I will say that the official made a very difficult call against us in a situation that was not clear that either athlete hand gained control,” Rhoden continued. “We ended that one with not only a loss but a loss by fall which cost us in the team score.”

Clackamas jump out to a 15-4 lead over Cerritos en route to a 29-7 duel win that only saw two match losses overall.

But the Cougs had to battle from a 15-13 deficit with John Morin (197) and Brandon Johnson (285) left to wrestle to defeat Fresno City College and won a nail-bitter to Simpson University.

Rhoden said that his team needs to finish their matches.

“We must finish matches and improve our conditioning moving forward,” he said. “As we somewhat expected, the teams we faced were in end of season form compared to us being in a second competition.

“We made some early mistakes that cost us matches,” he continued. “Which are correctable things that we should be able to improve as we progress.”

But the positive takeaway from Saturday’s dual was from their 174-pounder with Brendan Harkey on up to Johnson that helped get them back into matches late.

“Our kids from 174 pounds on up wrestled well to get us back in the match but we had dug to deep a hole,” said Rhoden. “We need to start faster and finish matches!”

This upcoming weekend, Clackamas will travel to Spokane, Washington for the Spokane Open. The opportunity gives not just the starters a look by the staff, but the whole roster of Cougar wrestlers.

“Since it is an open tournament we get the opportunity to evaluate not only are starters but our entire squad,” he said.

RESULTS

Clackamas Community College def. Fresno City College 19-18

Clackamas Community College def. Simpson University 21-19

Clackamas Community College def. Cerritos College 29-7

Sacramento City College def. Clackamas Community College 21-17

Jeremy McDonald is a professional sports journalist in the Salem/Portland area and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalist in Oregon with B.S. degrees from Southern Oregon University in Journalism (2011) and Health/PE (2013). Got a story idea? Email him at jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com or on Twitter at @J_McDonald81!